Europe Minister visits London

Press briefing by the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs Spokesperson (excerpt)

Paris, 12 September 2018

United Kingdom – Visit by Nathalie Loiseau (London, 13 September)

Nathalie Loiseau, Minister for European Affairs, will visit London on 13 September.

She will address the French community in the United Kingdom, one of the largest communities in the world (147,000 included in the register of French citizens resident outside of France). She will emphasize that guaranteeing the rights of European citizens resident in the United Kingdom is a priority for the EU and France within the framework of the negotiations on the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU and that we are continuing to pay close attention to this issue. There will be a meeting with the French community at the Institut français to exchange views with our compatriots and to respond to their concerns.

Prior to that, the Minister for European Affairs will meet the United Kingdom’s Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, Dominic Raab. The discussions will focus on the Brexit negotiations a few days ahead of the informal summit in Salzburg. During this meeting, Nathalie Loiseau will reaffirm our full support for the efforts of the European negotiator, Michel Barnier, and the need to finalize by the autumn, as planned, all aspects of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal, including the protocol on Ireland.

Nathalie Loiseau will also meet Alan Duncan, Minister of State for Europe and the Americas at the United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office. They will notably take stock of bilateral issues, on which our countries work in close and continuous coordination, in keeping with the United Kingdom-France Summit in Sandhurst on 18 January.

Mme Loiseau will also meet Hilary Benn, Chairman of the UK House of Commons Committee on Exiting the EU, and Keir Starmer, Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union.

She will deliver a speech on Europe at Chatham House, an independent think-tank established in 1920. (…)./.